‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ Brings Back the Zaniness

“Whose Line is it Anyway?” (WLIIA) is back! After 6 years off, the new season of WLIIA premiered on the CW network July 16. Luckily, the show features all of the founding cast members: Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles. Drew Carey is no longer host. Filling in for him is Aisha Tyler, known to TV audiences for her work on “Ghost Whisperer” and “CSI,” and as a co-host on “The Talk.”

To get ready for the new season of WLIIA, we’ve compiled a few of the show’s funniest moments from seasons past.

1. Songstyles with a female bodybuilder: One of the standard skits on WLIIA is for the host to name a situation and a style of music, and have one of the regulars create and sing a song — on the spot. In this skit, the cast brings on a female bodybuilder with more muscles than clothes, and Wayne Brady sings her a rock song. The result is hilarious.

2. Green screen: Attack of the Colin. Another of WLIIA’s favorite skit formats is the green screen, where the cast member can’t view what the audience sees projected behind him. In this clip, Colin is standing in front of a film of himself attacking the camera. When asked by Drew how the situation started, Colin replies, “It all started with an ill-timed bald joke.” Too funny.

3. Sound effects: Defending the queen. Sound effects is another fun game on WLIIA. For this one, Drew picks two older women from the audience to do the sound effects for Colin and Ryan as they pretend to be Medieval knights on a mission to save their queen. The women really rise to the occasion, much to the merriment of all.

4. Props: Props is a gag where each team of two cast members is given a wacky prop. They switch back and forth until one team runs out of ideas (or time.) In this skit, the props are two large, green grass-like fronds and two red bumpers. How they keep coming up with new ideas on the spot is amazing.

5. Prison yard director: In this classic skit, Colin “directs” the rest of the cast in a prison break scene. First, they do it straight, then as a Bob Fosse dance routine, as the cast of “Stomp,” and as a ’70s cheesy porn movie. Funny!

Whether the new season of WLIIA will be as amusing and as fresh as the original version remains to be seen. However, with the three original cast members returning, it’s certainly worth tuning in to check it out. Don’t get the CW? Most basic cable packages include the channel, including those provided by GetDirectTV.org and similar providers.

Are you excited for the new season of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Tell us your thoughts in the comments.